Sanjeev Sanyal highlights nepotism in publishing industry after Sushant Singh's death

A point mentioned during the current nepotism debate in Bollywood in the aftermath of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has been how it is not the only industry where the practice is prevalent. Some have highlighted that it is also common in industries like business and politics. Principal Economic Advisor and writer-economist Sanjeev Sanyal threw light on how nepotism is a common practice in the publishing industry as well.

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Starting his argument by writing that Sushant’s death had brought a much-needed discussion on ‘nepotism and the dark underbelly of Bollywood', Sanyal called for an honest discussion on the functioning of the publishing industry, despite 'improvement in last 10 years.'

Sanyal claimed that it was ‘very difficult’ for any ‘outsider to get published, and this was irrespective of talent. He claimed that children of well-known writers/journalists, with ‘clearly no talent’, ‘routinely’ get published. Similar to the ‘paid’ promotional material that is prevalent in Bollywood, Sanyal claimed that the work of these writers received ‘gushing reviews’ in leading periodicals, apart from them being invited to literature festivals.

Here are the tweets 

Sanyal gave credit to one of the best-selling authors of the country, Amish Tripathi on starting by self-publishing. Another aspect of the film industry that is often at the receiving end of criticism is the award shows, where ‘deals’ on who will win are allegedly stuck. The Principal Economic Advisor wrote that there was a ‘murky world of awards’ in the publishing industry too, something he claimed was ruled by a ‘tight clique’.

Another point he highlighted was ‘relentless ideological policing.’ The economist wrote that getting past the 'liberal' gatekeepers was a task in itself, and even if one succeeded in that, the work will be ‘censored’ at the editorial stage, as he gave the example of copy editors replacing 'Hindu' with 'Brahmanical'.

Sanjeev Sanyal shared that academic publishing was much more ‘dodgy’ than mainstream publishing, as the gatekeeping was done with the ‘zeal of Stalin,’ he claimed.  He shared that social sciences and humanities publishing often was ‘ideologically purified’ under the pretext of being 'peer-reviewed.'

However, Sanjeev Sanyal said he had been ‘fortunate’ to collaborate with some ‘great editors & publishers.' Though he credited the ‘intellectually honest individuals’ of the industry like that of Bollywood, he claimed to have gone through the ‘murky side’ too.

Sanyal, who has been associated as the Principal Economic Advisor of the Finance Ministry since 2017, has authored books like The Indian Renaissance: India's Rise After A Thousand Years of Decline, Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's GeographyThe Incredible History of India's Geography, The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History, Life over Two Beers and Other Stories, India in the Age of Ideas: Select Writings, for over a decade. He was also honoured with the International Indian Achiever's Award for his contribution to literature in 2014.

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